Читать книгу The Family at Red Roofs - Enid blyton - Страница 5

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When Shirley and the boys came racing up the hill at seven o’clock that evening in the golden June sun, Red-Roofs was ready for them. The carpets and linoleum were down, the curtains were up, the furniture stood in its place. The beds were made, clothes were hung in the cupboards or laid away tidily in drawers, and crockery was set out on the kitchen dresser. The woman had gone, after having scrubbed and polished and tidied.

A lovely smell of cooking came from the kitchen—Molly was frying bacon and eggs for the family supper! She was a good little cook. Mrs. Jackson was lying down for a few minutes, tired out. Nothing much remained to be done except one or two more crates to be unpacked—crates of pictures and books and toys—and Michael’s collection of tools and “bits and pieces.”

Shouting and yelling, the three younger children tore up the front path and into the open front door.

“Mother! We’re home!”

“I say—doesn’t everything look super?”

“Golly—they’ve got everything straight already!”

“Oh, doesn’t the dining-room look lovely and big—our table looks quite small in it. And what’s this little door in the wall—oh, it opens into the kitchen! Hallo, Mollykins!”

Peter had discovered the hatch in the wall connecting the kitchen and dining-room, through which food and plates could be passed. He opened it and stuck his head through, making Molly jump.

“Molly! Isn’t everything lovely! I say, you must have worked jolly hard.”

“We did,” said Molly. “It was fun, though. But there’s still plenty to be done. It’s a good thing to-morrow is Saturday, because you and Michael and Shirley can unpack your toys and books and arrange them yourselves. Mother has given us each a cupboard of our own for our things, and a book-shelf each.”

“This is the loveliest house that ever was!” said Shirley, dancing into every room, her eyes shining. “It’s a happy house too—it’s a house where everything comes right! It’s our own dear house, and we’ll live here for ever and ever!”

“Idiot!” said Peter, giving his little sister a friendly slap. “Have you seen your bedroom? It’s lovely. So’s mine.”

Each room had to be minutely examined and exclaimed over. Mrs. Jackson, lying exhausted on her bed, could not help smiling at the excited calls and exclamations.

“Look—we’ve got a new carpet in our bedroom—it’s blue like the walls.”

“Mike, look here—our room’s got a big window-seat, a proper one we can sit on and look out.”

“I say, Molly, doesn’t Daddy’s old grandfather clock look fine in the hall here—and its tick sounds ever so much louder!”

“Hurrah! We’re in Red-Roofs at last! Molly, is supper nearly ready? I’m frightfully hungry.”

“Nearly,” called Molly. “Lay the table, Shirley. You’ll find everything in the sideboard cupboard and drawers as usual, and I’ve got the plates warming out here.”

Soon they were all six sitting down to supper—and how they enjoyed it! It was such fun sitting in a strange room, a room where there was plenty of space for all of them, and where the windows looked out on to beds of gay flowers. Shirley thought that the bacon and eggs tasted nicer than any she had ever had before. She was very happy. So was everyone. It was a great thing to leave behind the cramped, stuffy life in the old small house, set chock-a-block with dozens of others, exactly alike, in a noisy street.

“Things will be much easier here,” said Mrs. Jackson. “Especially if I can get a nice woman in to help.”

“This is a place where I can ask Prudence and my other friends without feeling ashamed of it,” thought Molly. “It’s lovely to have a nice home.”

“I can work in this garden every week-end, and in the sunny evenings too,” said Mr. Jackson, thinking out loud. “I could get a man in once a week perhaps—there’s quite a lot to be done.”

The boys had their own plans too. Peter was very fond of the country, and loved birds and animals, trees and flowers—and now, here they all were at his doorstep. What a good time he would have! And Michael thought secretly of a shed he had discovered at the end of the garden—suppose Daddy would let him have half of it for his own work-shop? Then he would never need to scatter his things in the house, and be told to tidy them up just when he had got them how he wanted them. He could make as much mess as he liked down in that little shed.

“Have we got a bottle of lemon squash, dear?” said Mr. Jackson, suddenly, to his wife. “I feel we ought to drink to the happiness and success of our new life in this nice little house. After all, from this house the children will go out into the world, train for their work in life, and grow into men and women. We should drink to their success. To-night is a stepping-stone—we leave behind us our struggles and our handicaps, and face the future with hope and contentment.”

Everyone was very much impressed. Molly got up and found a bottle of lemon squash standing on a shelf in the larder. They all filled their glasses.

Mr. Jackson held up his. “To the happiness and success of you all!” he said. “To Red-Roofs and all it means to us!”

Everyone drank solemnly. Molly suddenly felt tears in her eyes and was rather ashamed. She blinked them away. Her father smiled at her, and lifted his glass again.

“To our Molly and her success as a teacher,” he said. “We shall be proud of you, Molly. To our Peter, and his success in years to come as a doctor! To our Michael, and his success too, whatever he chooses to be. And to our little Shirley, bless her!”

“To our dear little family!” said Mrs. Jackson, in rather a shaky voice.

“And here’s to the best father and mother in the world!” cried Molly, and emptied her glass in a gulp.

It was the happiest evening the little family had ever spent. Shirley didn’t want to go to bed at all, though her eyes were almost closed. She went up at last, when Molly promised to come in a few minutes. The boys soon went too, looking forward to the next day, when they could unpack their possessions. Then Molly went, yawning, feeling tired but happy. She switched the light on in her bedroom, and saw that Shirley was fast asleep in her little bed, her dark hair tumbling over her face. The room looked friendly and cosy, and Molly’s heart sang as she undressed.

She drew back the curtains ready for the morning, and leaned out of the open window. The scent of the roses came in and she sniffed it eagerly. Nobody had ever sniffed the night air at the other house—it would have smelt of back yards and dustbins, rather than of roses!

She got into bed and drew the blankets up to her chin. She thought gratefully of her father. He always worked so hard, and now his hard work had enabled them all to have this lovely home. She thought of her mother too, frail and easily-tired. She had worked hard for the children, cooking good meals for them, looking after their clothes, keeping them happy, and often going without things herself in order to give them treats.

“We must pay them back somehow,” thought Molly, half asleep. “We must all turn out well, whatever happens! We can’t let Mother or Daddy down after all they have done for us! I’ll pass all my exams with honours, and one day I’ll have a fine school of my own, and give Mother lovely presents. And Peter ought to do well, with his brains—he might be a very famous surgeon, perhaps. That would be lovely. Michael is clever too—I should think he’ll be an engineer of some kind—or perhaps a scientist who makes a great discovery, or an inventor who invents something marvellous.”

Her thoughts turned to Shirley, pretty little harum-scarum Shirley, alternately teased and petted by the boys and Molly. Shirley was rather spoilt, but she was the youngest and she’d grow out of it. She was selfish and thoughtless sometimes, wanting her own way—but she seemed such a baby compared to the rest of them. She would be a credit to the family too, whatever happened, Molly was sure.

Molly fell asleep, her dark curls spread over the pillow. She had happy dreams. So had everyone in the house that night. Peter awoke once and lay in surprise, wondering where he was, for he could dimly see the unfamiliar outline of the bedroom. Then he realized with a happy shock that he was in his new home, he was at Red-Roofs. He lay contentedly for a minute or two, thinking over all he meant to do, before he fell sound asleep again.

The next day was Saturday. Everyone awoke about half-past seven, and nobody wanted to stay in bed for that extra minute or two that is usually so delicious. Mrs. Jackson was down first, preparing the breakfast. Mr. Jackson strolled out into the garden, whistling like a schoolboy. Yes, he would certainly get a man to come in once a week—the rest he could manage himself. And he would get a dog. How the children would love that!

Molly rushed down to set the table and chatter in her usual cheerful way to her mother. The boys tore out into the garden to have a look round in the morning sun. Shirley took her best doll to show her the whole house. Mrs. Jackson said she was getting too big for dolls, but Shirley couldn’t bear to part with even the oldest one.

“We ought to be able to finish practically everything to-day,” said Mrs. Jackson, pouring out the tea at the breakfast-table. “I’ll unpack the pictures with Daddy and put them up. You children unpack your own belongings. We’ll put the crates into the garden and you can unpack them there. You won’t make a mess in the house then.”

So that morning the four children worked busily. Molly unpacked her pile of books and arranged them on the book-shelf allotted to her. She stowed away her work-box and knitting into her own cupboard. She set out her vases and few little ornaments here and there in her bedroom. Shirley watched approvingly and went to pick a few flowers for the vases.

“You’ll have to try and be tidy now, Shirley,” said Molly, looking round the spick and span bedroom. “We can’t have such a nice room as this spoilt by clothes thrown about everywhere.”

“Oh, of course I’ll be tidy,” promised Shirley. “Everything will be easy in this house. There’s room for everybody and their things. I’ll make my own bed each morning, and I’ll sweep and dust our room too, if you like.”

Molly smiled. She knew Shirley’s eager suggestions and promises—but they were not always followed out or kept! “We’ll see how you get on,” she said. “Let’s see what the boys are doing now.”

The boys were having a lovely time. They had arranged all their own books and belongings, and Peter had put his most treasured possession, a small second-hand microscope, carefully at the back of his own cupboard. He had saved up for two years for this, and already used it a great deal. He never let any one else use it, but only allowed them to look down the eye-piece occasionally if he were there. He had once fought Michael and given him a black eye when he had found his brother trying to use it by himself.

“Nobody else in the whole school has got a microscope of his own!” he told Michael fiercely. “Nobody else at all. I went without sweets for ages to buy that—and you don’t suppose I’m going to let you mess about with it and break it, do you? You know I’m going to be a doctor—and I must have a microscope for that! It’s the most precious thing I have, and I’ll knock your head off if you touch it again!”

Michael had been far too scared to touch it after that. At the other house it had had to stand on the top shelf of the dresser, and Peter couldn’t even bear his mother to move it when she dusted the shelf there. But now his precious, beloved microscope was safe—safe at the back of his own cupboard, which had a key and could be locked. Peter was glad.

All the remaining things were unpacked and arranged that day. The empty boxes were piled into a corner of the garden to await the carrier to take them back to the removal firm. Molly and Mrs. Jackson went down to the town to do a little week-end shopping. How good it was to walk back up the hill to Red-Roofs, instead of taking the tram to the old dark house at the other end of the town.

“We’ll have a real, restful day to-morrow,” said Mrs. Jackson, who looked tired out after all her efforts. “I’m so glad to-morrow is Sunday, the day of peace and rest. We shall enjoy walking over the fields to church. Everything is done now. All we need to do is to sit back and enjoy things.”

“Oh, there are still a few things to settle,” said Mr. Jackson, with a smile.

“What?” asked Molly, in surprise.

“Well—we must find a maid for your mother—a man for the garden—and a dog for us all!” said Mr. Jackson, lighting his pipe. “Don’t you think those are good ideas?”

Mr. Jackson liked the idea of the man for the garden and Mrs. Jackson liked the idea of a woman to help her But the children only heard one word—DOG! A dog for the Jackson family, something they had always longed for—a real, live DOG!